Cloth-drying machine.



. no. 678,136. Y Patented my 9, |901.

c. w. .nussl-:LL 4 GLDTH DRYING'JIACHINE.

` (Application Bled Apr. 7. 1900.)

AIV Jl/S 2 Sheeis-$heg I g (No Model.)

Wr :'Nrs'szs:

Tut Nanni 2 Shasta-Shoa( 2.

' Patented I uly 9, 190|.

C. W. RUSSELL. cLoTH onvms-nAc'Hme.

(Application n led Apr. 7, 1900.)

No. 678,I36.

(No Model.)

WYTNEEES fafa/fw@ fss ' MT1-3D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

cLoTH-DRYING MACHINE.

Y SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 678,136, dated July 9, 1901. Application led April 7,1900. Serial No. 11,945.A (No model.)

To all whom tn/tay concern.-

Be ity known that I, CHARLES WARD Rus- SELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cloth-Drying Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to an improvement in machines for drying cloth; and it consists in the peculiar and novel construction and the combination of parts more fully described hereinafter.

To secure the rapid drying of cloth, heat has to be applied to facilitate the rapid evaporation of thewater and air to remove the vapor from the cloth. The machines used for drying cloth maybe divided into fan dryingmachines, in which the cloth is passed around (usually revolving) cylinders, and steam-coil drying-machines, in which the air is heated by the steam-coils and passed through or among the cloth. In fan drying the direct contactof the cloth with the heated cylinders imparts a stiffness to theclothsimilar to ironing, while in the steam-coilmachines a greatl deal of heat is wasted and along frame is required to secure the drying of the cloth in one passage through the frame.

The main object of my invention is to econornize space and steam, while more thoroughly drying the cloth, as .will be more fullyl set forth hereinafter. l

Myimprovcd machine is adapted to woolen,

linen, cotton, and other cloth of different The cloth may be stretched andV Widths. tentered during its passage through the machine, and a swissing motion may begiven to the cloth, if desired.

Figure lis a longitudinal sectional view of Steam-coils radiate heat in all directions, and when cloth is passed over or alongside of such steam-coils only a part of theradiated heat affects the cloth. In my improved clothdrying machine I direct all the radiated heat against the cloth by means of a reflectorplate placed on the side of the coil opposite the cloth. To economize space, I carry the cloth in a rectangular path around the coils and outsidepof a rectangular space inclosed by the reflector-plates. As far as I am at this time aware I am the first to vuse these two features in a cloth-drying machine.

Similar marks of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the iigures of the drawings, in which- AAA indicate the sills on which the machine is supported, A the fixed side rigidly secured to the sills A A, and A2 the adjustable side provided near each end with a carriage A2, the wheels of which, preferably grooved, rest and-move on the ways A4 on the upper side of the sills A A. The side A2 is connected with thev side A' by means of the (preferably four) shafts A5A5, rotatably secured and held against4 longitudinal-movement in bearings supported in the lfixed side A. The'shafts A5 fA5 are screw-threaded for part of their length and are in screw-thread engagement with the adjustable side A2. To secure the uniform adjustment, the shafts A5 are each provided at the end journaled in the fixed side A with a sprocket-wheel A6, and all the sprocket-,wheels are connected with' each other by thesprocket-chain A1. To one of the sides, preferably. the adjustable side A2, the pyramidical deiiector A8 is secured, and to the opposite side the partition A2, provided with a central opening, is secured. .The fan A10 is mounted in bearings supported by theside A and the partition A. The lfan A10 is-provided with a driving-pulley or other means for rotating the fan. The central portion of the machine is inclosed by a casing which, to permit of the adjustment of the machine to varying widths of cloth, is made telescopical, the part A11 of the casing being secured to the side A and the part A12 to the adjustable side A2. a. The casing is made of sheet metal, pref- IOO erably provided with a polished outer surface,

so as to reflect the heat.

Two series of steam-coils surround the casing. The series A13 is connected with one side and extends beyond the middle of the machine when adj usted to its greatest width. The series of coils A14 is connected with the other side of the machine and overlaps the series A13. The steam-coils A13 and A11 are placed between the central casings A11 and A12 and the cloth B. The cloth Bis taken from the pile B1 and, passing between the friction-bars B2, is connected along the opposite selvage edges to the chain B3 by the pins B4 on the brackets B5, extending from the inner side of the links of the endless chain B3. Instead of the pins B4 on the chain the chain may be provided with any one of the forms of cloth-clamps used on cloth-drying machines. The endless chain B3 is guided and supported on the sprocket-wheels b Z9, secured to the shafts B1i B6, on which the cylinders B7 are supported. The cylinders B7B7 telescope one part into the other part, so as to permit of the longitudinal adjustment to the width of the cloth and serve to support the cloth between the endless chains. The endless chains B3 B3 pass over the sprocket-wheels b b in carrying the cloth through the drying-machine proper and also pass over the sprocket-wheels b b, supported in sliding bearings secured to the bracket BS, one side ot' which is laterally ,nwgoadjustable, so as to adjust the same to different widths of cloth, and also obliquely adjustable, so as to stretch the cloth in its passage to the rectangular part of the drying-machine. After passing around the four sides the cloth is taken olf from the chain by the rollers B9 and, passing through the plaiting-frame B10, is folded on the coil B11, as is indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2. The air is driven by the fan A10 through the central chamber and directed by the pyramidical delector AS around the open ends of the casing, as is indicated by the arrows in Fig. 6, into the space between the cloth and the casing of the central chamber, in which the steam-coils are located, and is drawn from the opposite end of this space by the fan. The heat from the coils is radiated directly to the cloth from one side of the coils, and the heat from the other side of the coils Vis retlected by the casing. The air, passing around and among the steamcoils in the contracted space, passes over the inner surface of the cloth and also through the cloth. rl`=he steam-coils heat the cloth and vaporize the water contained in the cloth without touching the cloth, and the currents of heated air absorb the vapors so rapidly that in one passage through the drier the cloth may be thoroughly dried.

I have shown in Figs. 5 and G driving mechanism for operating the machine; but I do not wish to coniine myself to any particular means for driving the saine. 4

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A cloth-drier having a central chamber,

a fan on one side of the chamber, an air-pas sage around the marginot the opposite side of the chamber, steam-coils disposed around the central chamber, and means for carrying the cloth around the steam-coils, as described.

2. A cloth-drier having two sides, means supported on the sides for carrying the cloth around the drier and between the sides, a central chamber open at one side and the walls of which form with the cloth an annular space, and steam-coils disposed in the annular space between the Walls of the central chamber and the cloth, as described.

3. A cloth-drier having two sides, means for carrying the cloth around the drier, a central chamber the walls of which form with the cloth an annular space, steam-coils in the annular space, a fan-blower in one side of the central chamber, and openings on the margin of the opposite sides of the central chamber communicating with the annular space,where by the heat is concentrated in the annular space and the air brought in contact with the cloth, as described.

4t. ln a cloth-drier, in combination, a fixed and an adjustable side adapted to adjust the drier to the Width of the cloth, a cloth-carrier, a telescopic central chamber connected with the opposite sides, a fan-blower in the fixed side of the telescopic central chamber, a pyramidical detlector opposite the fan-blower, and two sets ot' steam-coils, one connected with each of the sides, whereby the parts adjust themselves automatically when the drier is adjusted to the width of the cloth, as described. i

5. In a cloth-drier, the combination with the side A rigidly secured to the supporting# sills, of the side A2, the carriages A3 A3 the ways A4, the shafts A5 A, and means for simultaneously operating the shafts A5 A5, whereby the width of the drier may be ad# justed to the Width of the cloth, as described.

6. In a cloth-drier having a central chamber, steam-coils outside of the central chamber and cloth -oarrying chains extending around and outside of the steam-coils, of an extension of the chain, and adjustable guides for the chain, whereby the cloth to be dried may be stretched, as described.

'7. In a cloth-drying machine, the combination of the following instrumentalities: two vertical sides, cloth-carriers supported on the sides near the margin, a central chamber the walls ot which form with the cloth an annular space, steam-coils in the annular space, a fan on one side o'f the inner chamber, a pyramidical detiector on the other side ot' the chamber, openings connecting the space within the central chamber with the annular space, and a cloth-stretching device, whereby the cloth is dried by passing around the central chamber and outside of the steam-coils, as described.

8. In combination in a cloth-drier, the two vertical sides of the drier, means for adjusting the sides to the width of the cloth, two greater length of cloth exposed in less space, 1o cloth-carriers, supports for the cloth-carriers, as described. a central telescopic chamber, steam-coils eX- In testimony whereof I have signed my. tending from each side, each beyond the I name to this specification in the presence o other, and one outside of the other, a.fan two subscribing Witnesses.

blower on one side of the central telescopic CHARLES WARD RUSSELL. chamber, and mechanism for actuating the Witnesses: cloth-carriers; whereby the cloth is carried J. A. MILLER, Jr.,

around the margin of the machine and a A. E. HAGERTY. 

